On Oct. 16, the Sun Valley Jazz and Music Festival announced a change in its leadership.
Steve and Linda Goff will assume the roles of co-executive directors of the nonprofit festival, taking over from Jeff and Carol Loehr, who have produced the festival for the past two decades.
Carol Loehr is the daughter of Tom Hazzard, who started the festival with Wally Huffman as the Sun Valley Swing ‘n’ Dixie Jazz Jamboree in 1989. Tom and his wife, Barbara Hazzard, asked Carol and Jeff to take over the festival after Tom was diagnosed with cancer. The younger couple agreed and have been running the festival since 2003.
Carol and Jeff Loehr will stay on as directors emeriti of the festival, but the Goffs will take over planning and producing the festival.
A professional musician, Steve Goff played saxophone with the U.S. Army Band until he retired from the military. The couple traveled the world while Steve was in the service. They now live in Nampa, where Steve is the chief technology officer at Northwest Nazarene University.
The Goffs are well acquainted with the Sun Valley Jazz and Music Festival. Steve has played the festival with his band, High Street Band, for more than 20 years. Over that time, the couple got to know Carol and Jeff Loehr well.
Steve said that the Loehrs had scaled last year’s festival back as they considered retiring. Then, six months ago, the Goffs stepped up to help produce the 2025 festival, joining its board of directors.
Linda said that the Loehrs knew that Steve had the business savvy to run the festival, given his management of the High Street Band. For his part, Steve thinks that Linda will be “a great partner” in their new endeavor, given her experience organizing events. In the past, Steve said, he’s been on the stage and Linda has been in the audience. Working on the jazz festival “gives us something to do together that involves music,” he said.
The two couples formally announced the leadership transition to festivalgoers on Thursday afternoon during the opening ceremony in the Limelight Ballroom at Sun Valley Resort.
The Goffs are already thinking of ways to grow the festival and on collaborations that will get more young people to come.
“We’ve got great plans,” said Linda.
